Down a Rabbit hole

 The postcard intrigued me so I thought I would try and find out a little more about these Victorians.  Ann Amelia Bassett nee Chapman Stage name.. . Mademoiselle Adelaide Bassett According to Census entries Ann or Annie appears to have been born in the Bromley area of  London, and according to her baptism record she was born on April the 30th 1863...but was baptised with several siblings at Poplar (in London) in 1873 when the family address was 3 Northumberland street. Her parents were James Harvey Chaplin and his wife Mary Ann. In 1871 he was Painter (Artisan not Artist) and daughter Ann aged 8 was at school. (The 1891 &1901 census add a little more detail "Ship painter") In 1881 he was still "Painter" and the family still at Northumberland street but Ann had left home to work as a servant "house girl" at the King and Queen pub in Bethnal Green address 89 Hare street (now known as Cheshire street and the Pub has now a residential use) On the...

    "A PARACHUTIST KILLED. MADEMOISELLE ADELAIDE BASSETT, a London parachutist, was killed at a fête and gala held at Peterborough on Bank Holiday(a London paper of August 11th reports] the entertainment was organised by Mr Bartholomew, of Cambridge, and the attraction included a balloon ascent, a double parachute descent, advertised as a "race for life", by Captain Orton and Miss Bassett.The balloon was' inflated by half-past 1 when Captain Orton gave the word to letgo. As the balloon ascended, a telephone wire caught the lady's parachute, causing it to fall, when 20ft from the ground. The parachutists were seen to confer, and when the balloon had risen about 60ft. the womanJumped off, falling on her head some 30 yards from where the ascent was made. The man immediately let go, and, his parachute inflating, he fell safely. Miss Bassett was picked up and removed to the infirmary,where she was found to be dead. The terrible scene was witnessed by thousands of spec...